Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using Internet Protocol (IP) rather than by traditional circuit transmissions of the Public Switch Telephone Network (PSTN). This allows the elimination of circuit switching and the associated waste of bandwidth. Instead, packet switching is used, where IP packets with voice data are sent over the network only when data needs to be sent, i.e. when a caller is talking.
The advantages of VoIP over traditional telephony include; by way of example, are the following: lower costs per call, especially for long-distance calls, and lower infrastructure costs: that is, once this IP infrastructure is installed, no or little additional telephony infrastructure is needed.
However, despite the technological flexibility of VoIP system, callers are still limited to initiating calls manually, that is by using the alphanumeric keypad on a telephone.
The art has a clear need for important third party control of telephonic calls. The present invention provides a rotation to that art-felt need.